The National tribune., 1887-02-24
LONGEVITY OF PENsIoNERs.

Joyed 10y pensioners. For example, the New
York World says, editorially:
In Is22, nearly 40 years after the close OF the
Revolutionary war. which. it was estimated less
than 5000 soldiers survived, there were the
pension list l., 33l names OF the soldiers of the
war Of 1872, as we showed yesterday. 50, Sos
pensioned under law passed So years AFTER the
treaty Of peace; ouer $4,000 IF he survivors aud
tcidoCs drdtciRg pensions last Vcdr II years
after e end of dc trdr at cost Of Sl,s2j9s5 dad
400 applications actually reeerod ia 1855!
The conditions under which survivors of
the wars with Great Britain obtained pen
sions were very different from those which
govern pensions now. All who were under
arms for few days in the militia were PEN
stoned, and their widows, and this, owing
to The predatory and unorganized character
of these wars, brought in pretty nearly every
man whowas able to carry gun. As many
of them were very young, and as the wild
ows themselves also received pension, it
has extended the continuance of the pensions
over long period of years. For example,
nearly every able-bodied man, including
boys of 10 or II, who lived near Baltimore
in 1911 responded TO the call for men to de-
fend the city. They were present, we will
say, though many were only guarding roads
or bridges, or watching the fanks at the
battle of North Point, where the British
were turned back and their commander
killed. They afterward returned home and
took no further part in the war. They be-
came entitled TO a pension under the law
which granted this 10 any who had served
Ii days, or taken part in battle, or to his
widow.
There was no telling how many of this
kind of soldiers there were, for very little
reliance can be placed on the statistics rela-
ting 10 the war of 1912. The War Depart
ment does not know with any degree of
certainty even the number of Regular troops
who were enrolled during the war, while as
regards the militia all is chaos. About
i71,c00 men have proved that they served
as militia during the struggle, which, with
an estimated average of $4,000 Regulars,
would make over 100000.
Instead of there being 10000 pensioners of
the war of 1872 on the roll last year as the
Word says, the report of the Commissioner
of Pensions says that on June 80, 1886, there
were 1896, of whom but 1889 were sur
vivOrs and 1887 widows During the year
which ended then AGO survivors and III
widows were reported as having died or
failed to apply for their pensions or were
dropt from the roll.
The roll of pensioners who participated in
the rebellion will diminish much more
rapidly than that of the 1872 survivors.
The reason is that the average term of ser
vice was vastly longer, and the hardships,
dangers and bodily strains inconceivably
greater. Comparatively few of the 1912
survivors were in the service more than a
few weeks, or saw more than a single bat
tie. The entire loss of the more than $780,
600 men who are reported as having been
in the service during the struggle, was only
], So killed and 1872 wounded. The 1000
men whom Grant commanded at Shiloh
lost / ,437 killed and 5,679 wounded If we
add TO this the loss of Buell's army on
the second day of the battle-263 killed
and ,s16 wounded-we have a total loss in
one engagement of 100 killed and 1893
wounded, or more than the entire loss of
the second war with Great Britain. In the
battle of Antietam there was nearly twice
the loss. In McClellan's Peninsular campaign
there were more men killed and wounded
than in all the fighting from TppecanOe to
New Orleans. The army which Grant led
from the Wilderness to Petersburg lost five
times as many as fell before the muskets of
the British veterans.
1t must be remembered all the time that
perfectly well, able-bOdied men were put on
the rolls by the seryice-pension laws passed
for the benefit of the survivors of the wars
with Great Britain, while the present pen
sion laws and the Dependent Bill only con-
template pensioning broken-down veterans.
The difference is enormous
The annual reports of the Commissioner
of Pensions are fearful exhibits of the rate
of mortality among those survivors of the
war of the rebellion with which his Office
has TO do. Thus, at the close of the fiscal
year Of 1885 there were 247,Ii6 invalid
pensioners on his roll, of whom 1850 dis
appeared from the roll before June 30, 1856,
OF nearly 800 month.
The death rate this year will be still
higher than it was last year, and it will 20
on rising rapidly for the next decade, for
most of the men who fought the war through
are rapidly turning by their 5Oth mile post.